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Leonard Busher
Leonard Busher (''fl''. 1614) was an English pioneer writer on religious toleration, known as an early advocate of full liberty of conscience. Life He was apparently a Londoner who spent some time in Amsterdam, where he was acquainted with John Robinson and probably John Smyth. He adopted in the main the principles of the Brownists, and after his return to England Busher apparently became a member of the congregation of Thomas Helwys. Works Busher's only published work was entitled ''Religious Peace; or, a Plea for Liberty of Conscience, long since presented to King James and the High Court of Parliament then sitting, by L. B., Citizen of London, and printed in the year 1614''; no copy of this 1614 edition is known. His treatise advocates religious toleration, freedom to print, and to speak one’s mind about religion. It also calls for the resettlement of the Jews into England, although professor of Judaic studies, Mel Scult points out that this is motivated by the desire to con ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Religious Toleration
Religious toleration may signify "no more than forbearance and the permission given by the adherents of a dominant religion for other religions to exist, even though the latter are looked on with disapproval as inferior, mistaken, or harmful". Historically, most incidents and writings pertaining to toleration involve the status of minority and dissenting viewpoints in relation to a dominant state religion. However, religion is also sociological, and the practice of toleration has always had a political aspect as well. An overview of the history of toleration and different cultures in which toleration has been practiced, and the ways in which such a paradoxical concept has developed into a guiding one, illuminates its contemporary use as political, social, religious, and ethnic, applying to LGBT individuals and other minorities, and other connected concepts such as human rights. In Antiquity Religious toleration has been described as a "remarkable feature" of the Achaemenid E ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Liberty Of Conscience
Freedom of thought (also called freedom of conscience) is the freedom of an individual to hold or consider a fact, viewpoint, or thought, independent of others' viewpoints. Overview Every person attempts to have a cognitive proficiency by developing knowledge, concepts, theories and assessing them in the given environment. This cognitive proficiency gives a sense of contentment and replaces the feeling of helplessness. Apart from bringing ease to the ego of a person, new knowledge and ideas also bring a hope for the future. Freedom of thought is the precursor and progenitor of—and thus is closely linked to—other liberties, including freedom of religion, freedom of speech, and freedom of expression. Though freedom of thought is axiomatic for many other freedoms, they are in no way required for it to operate and exist. The conception of a freedom or a right does not guarantee its inclusion, legality, or protection via a philosophical caveat. It is a very important concep ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the City Region of Amsterdam, urban area and 2,480,394 in the Amsterdam metropolitan area, metropolitan area. Located in the Provinces of the Netherlands, Dutch province of North Holland, Amsterdam is colloquially referred to as the "Venice of the North", for its large number of canals, now designated a World Heritage Site, UNESCO World Heritage Site. Amsterdam was founded at the mouth of the Amstel River that was dammed to control flooding; the city's name derives from the Amstel dam. Originally a small fishing village in the late 12th century, Amsterdam became a major world port during the Dutch Golden Age of the 17th century, when the Netherlands was an economic powerhouse. Amsterdam is th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Robinson (pastor)
John Robinson (1576–1625) was the pastor of the "Pilgrim Fathers" before they left on the ''Mayflower''. He became one of the early leaders of the English Separatists called Brownists, and is regarded (along with Robert Browne and Henry Barrow) as one of the founders of the Congregational Church. Early life Robinson was born at Sturton-Le-Steeple in Nottinghamshire, England, between March and September 1576, this range of dates deduced by comparing two records at Leiden (Leyden), Netherlands, that give his age at the time of the event. Remarkably, the same village was also the birthplace of the significant martyr of 1546, John Lassells, and the separatist and Baptist John Smyth. He entered Corpus Christi College at the University of Cambridge in April 1592. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1596. In May 1598 he was admitted a Fellow of his college and ordained a priest of the Church of England. This was followed one year later in 1599 by his Master of Arts degree. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Smyth (Baptist Minister)
John Smyth (c. 1554 – c. 28 August 1612) was an English Anglican, Baptist, then Mennonite minister and a defender of the principle of religious liberty. Early life Smyth is thought to have been the son of John Smyth, a yeoman of Sturton-le-Steeple, Nottinghamshire. He was educated locally at the grammar school in Gainsborough and in Christ's College, Cambridge, where he became a Fellow in 1594. Smyth was ordained as an Anglican priest in 1594 in England. Ministry He preached in the city of Lincoln in 1600 to 1602. In 1607, he broke with the Church of England and left for Holland where he, Thomas Helwys and his small congregation began to study the Bible ardently. He briefly returned to England. In the beginning, Smyth was closely aligned with his Anglican heritage. As time passed, his views evolved. Smyth's education at Cambridge included the "trivium" and "quadrivium" which included a heavy emphasis upon Aristotelian logic and metaphysics. Smyth's evolving ecclesiolo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brownists
The Brownists were a group of English Dissenters or early Separatists from the Church of England. They were named after Robert Browne, who was born at Tolethorpe Hall in Rutland, England, in the 1550s. A majority of the Separatists aboard the ''Mayflower'' in 1620 were Brownists, and indeed the Pilgrims were known into the 20th century as the Brownist Emigration. Origins There had been early advocates of a congregational form of organization for the Church of England in the time of Henry VIII. It became clear that the English government had other plans on the re-establishment of the Anglican Church, after the Catholic Mary's reign, and these dissenters looked towards setting up a separate church. The first wave of separatism from the Elizabethan Church of England came in London after March 1566, when Archbishop Parker enforced strict adherence to the Prayer Book and 14 ministers were deprived. Some of the most radical led their followers in forming the London Underground Churc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thomas Helwys
Thomas Helwys (c. 1575 – c. 1616), an English minister, was one of the joint founders, with John Smyth, of the General Baptist denomination. In the early seventeenth century, Helwys was principal formulator of demand that the church and the state be kept separate in matters of law, so that individuals might have a freedom of religious conscience. Helwys was an advocate of religious liberty at a time when to hold to such views could be dangerous. He died in prison as a consequence of the religious persecution of Protestant Dissenters under King James I. Early life Thomas Helwys was born in Gainsborough, from Edmund and Margaret Helwys who were descendants of an old Norman family. Edmund had sold his land in Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire and had taken a lease on Broxtowe Hall in Bilborough parish. In 1590 when his father died, Thomas Helwys assumed control of the estate, but in 1593, left the care of the estate in the hands of his father's friends and began studies in la ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Henry Burton (Puritan)
Henry Burton (1578–1648), was an English puritan. Along with John Bastwick and William Prynne, Burton's ears were cut off in 1637 for writing pamphlets attacking the views of Archbishop Laud. Early life He was born at Birstall, West Yorkshire, a small parish in the West Riding of Yorkshire, in the latter part of 1578 as may be inferred from his writings. His father, William Burton, was married to Maryanne Homle umbleon 24 June 1577. He was educated at St. John's College, Cambridge, where he graduated M.A. in 1602. His favourite preachers were Laurence Chaderton and William Perkins. On leaving the university he became tutor to two sons of Sir Robert Carey. Under James I Through the Carey interest, Burton obtained the post of clerk of the closet to Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales; while acting in this capacity he composed a treatise on Antichrist, the manuscript of which was placed by the prince in his library at St. James's. He complains that Richard Neile, who was cle ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thomas Edwards (heresiographer)
Thomas Edwards (1599–1647) was an English Puritan clergyman. He was a very influential preacher in London of the 1640s, and was a polemical writer, arguing from a conservative Presbyterian point of view against the Independents. Life He graduated M.A. from Queens' College, Cambridge in 1625, and became a well-known preacher. He continued to reside at Cambridge, where, after taking orders, he was appointed a university preacher, nicknamed 'Young Luther.' In February 1627 he preached a sermon in which he counselled his hearers not to seek carnal advice when in doubt; declared he would testify and teach no other doctrine though the day of judgment were at hand, and was committed to prison until he could find bonds for his appearance before the ecclesiastical courts. After being frequently summoned before the courts, he received an order on 31 March 1628 to make a public recantation of his teaching in St. Andrew's Church, with which he complied on 6 April. Edwards did not remain ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gangræna
''Gangraena'' is a book by English puritan clergyman Thomas Edwards, published in 1646. A notorious work of heresiography, it appeared the year after Ephraim Pagitt's ''Heresiography''. These two books attempted to catalogue the fissiparous Protestant congregations of the time, in England particularly, into recognised sects or beliefs. Pagitt worked with 40 to 50 categories, Edwards went further with around three times as many, compiling a list of the practices of the Independents and more extreme radicals: Nature of ''Gangraena'' ''Gangraena'' is generally described as an alarmist work, deducing a collapse of national polity from the ramification of different religious creeds. Typically, the Baptist Hanserd Knollys was accused of being an Anabaptist. Heresy is foregrounded, and the analogy suggested that heresy is to the soul as witchcraft to the body. Edwards was an unsparing writer and ''Gangraena'' is described as "monumentally vituperative". The title itself refers t2 Tim ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edward Bean Underhill
Edward Bean Underhill (1813–1901) was an English missionary secretary, known as a Baptist historian and biographer. Life Born at St. Aldate's, Oxford, on 4 October 1813, he was one of seven children of Michael Underhill, a grocer in Oxford, by his wife Eleanor Scrivener. After schooling in Oxford by John Howard Hinton, Underhill went into business as a grocer in Beaumont Street, Oxford, from 1828 until 1843. His wife suffered from poor health, and he then moved to Avening, near Stroud, Gloucestershire. In 1848 Underhill became proprietor and editor of the ''Baptist Record'', to which he contributed historical papers. After the closure of the magazine in June 1849, Underhill became joint secretary of the Baptist Missionary Society (July 1849). He was sole secretary from 1869 to 1876, and honorary secretary from 1876 until death. The society's work expanded in the period. He visited the missionary centres of the society, and was in India and Ceylon from October 1854 to Februar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
David Masson
David Mather Masson LLD DLitt (2 December 18226 October 1907), was a Scottish academic, supporter of women's suffrage, literary critic and historian. Biography He was born in Aberdeen, the son of William Masson, a stone-cutter, and his wife Sarah Mather. David was educated at Aberdeen Grammar School under Dr. James Melvin and at Marischal College, University of Aberdeen. Intending to enter the Church, he proceeded to Edinburgh University, where he studied theology under Dr. Thomas Chalmers, with whom he remained friendly until the latter's death in 1847. However, abandoning his aspirations to the ministry, be returned to Aberdeen to undertake the editorship of the ''Banner'', a weekly paper devoted to the advocacy of Free Kirk principles. After two years he resigned this post and went back to Edinburgh to pursue a purely literary career. There he wrote a great deal, contributing to ''Fraser's Magazine'', ''Dublin University Magazine'' (in which appeared his essays on Tho ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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